Meeting between Phantasmagoria and the Peters
A lone Peter was dispatched to the land to the east to investigate unusual readings reported in the region. The running theory amongst the Peters researching the area was that a form of power crystals exist in the area. He left on one of the flying contraptions with recording tablets, a sensor for detecting known wavelengths of power crystals, and a beacon showing Peter’s relative position to the island. The other Peters keenly watched the blip on the radar steadily moving towards the continent, and then lost interest when the blip slowed down on the mainland. A few minutes later, the blip disappeared. Normal men would stop there. Sane men would resolve to explore lands that have not been the source of hundreds of rumors. Sensible men would mark “Here there be dragons” on the map and let the foolish and stupid explore those lands. The Peters immediately suited up, grabbed the relevant equipment, and launched an expedition to the last broadcasted coordinates of Peter’s tracking device. "Transponders sometimes stop working," they thought. "Sometimes accidents happen, even to Peters," they reasoned. And, they concluded, "there most certainly are no such things as monsters. Just the large carnivorous creatures that exist in the world that may have been responsible for the disappearance of Peter." The four Peters now look around their surroundings with unease. The hills seem to sway in and out of existence. They are not sure if the animals they see are real or not. As they investigate the scene, they come across the smashed remains of Peter's transponder. There is no sign of its owner anywhere. Then they hear a guttural voice dredge out the words,"Feed... me..." The Peters look up to see the gleaming red eyes of some pitch-black creature peering over one of the hills at them. "There is no such thing as monsters." It begins creeping over the hill, its many fingers feeling their way over the terrain towards the Peters. "There is NO such thing as monsters." As the creature rises into view, its giant gleaming white teeth can be seen set in its torso. Hanging by a ligament from one of its teeth is the blood-less head of the late Peter. Its teeth move slightly as it says again, "Feeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeee." "Very interesting. I had long postulated that such incorporeal creatures could exist, but I never thought I would be able to observe my hypothesis first hand" Peter exclaimed. "Dont pretend like that was YOUR theory Peter. Peter thought of it long before YOU" "Peter, stop harassing Peter. We have a ghost who clearly killed and ate Peter, and rather than deal with that, you and Peter are arguing. TYPICAL Peter." "Perhaps we should attempt communication?" "But how?" "Charades maybe?" While the Peters were arguing, Peter turns back to find himself face to face with the dead eyes and slack jaw of Peter's inverted head. "Uh, Peter?" The other Peters continue, "Perhaps it knows semaphore - I have some flags in the aerial craft." "Peter!" "Not now, Peter! We need to figure out how to communicate with-" "PETER!!!!!" "WHAT!?" The Peters yell as they spin about. The dark figure looms 9 ft. tall over the four Peters hungrily. "...Oh right..." The creature's eyes flash and it opens its jaw to the size of a doorway, as if to devour the four in one go. "He's going to eat us!" yelled Peter. "Always the one to state the obvious, Pe-" A beam of bright violet light sweeps over their heads, slicing though the demon. It howls its agony only briefly before it disintegrated into dust. The Peters, stunned by this show of power, turn slowly to see whether their savior is discriminatory in its vaporization decisions. Across the field, they see what appears to be a stone robot, roughly the size of the creature it had just slain. The sentinel's head spins 360 degrees on its neck, seeming to simultaneously sweep the area for more enemies and indicate an all-clear to the Peters. "Talk about Deus Ex Machina..." Peter mumbles to the others. They all begin hastily scribbling notes. So hastily, in fact, that their chisels one by one chip their way into uselessness while the strange contraption approaches them. Only Peter lifts his head to attempt to communicate. Unfortunately it was the Peter who recommended charades. He begins wildy flapping his hands, trying to emulate the Peter flying machines, followed by some obscure gesture that was either sexual or scientific in nature. Sometimes it was difficult to tell the difference. Hypnosomus rouses from his dream at the destruction of his nightmare, combined with the sounds of something foreign to his lands. This is not the people from the north, no, these are different. Hypnosomus focuses on the trundling stone protector, squinting his thoughts. He expands his perception again within the eyes of the guardian to see the four new visitors. "Funny," he thinks, "the other visitors seemed very similar to each other, but these ones all look exactly alike. Or could it be..." He speaks into their minds, "Greetings, strange ones, I am named Hypnosomus. Now I must ask out of curiosity: Are there four of you? Or are you all my new Morpheons?" "There is only one of me, these others here are my clones" "Oh shut it, Peter, stop compensating for the fact that we have video footage of you being birthed in a cloning pod" "Silence! I released that footage to cover up the fact that I am the real Peter!" "Achem, excuse them honored Hypnosomus. They take their own existential crisis quite personally" Peter states. "Im unsure what a Morpheon is, but I am Peter. And here is Peter, Peter, and Peter. We come from the distant floating city of Peter, seeking knowledge." Peter takes a long bow to Hypnosomus, more out of a desire to curry favor in order to study the strange machination rather than out of respect, but I digress... Hypnosomus beams at these curios creatures's antics with amusement, then replies. "If knowledge is that which you seek, there is plenty to learn here. I have seen many years go by and many mysteries present themselves to me. I would be keen to know what you discover myself, Peter, Peter, Peter and Peter." Category:Nationbuilder VII Trade Meetings